The coordinator signaled to me, as I, including my father and mother, made our way to alter. I breathed in and smiled through gritted teeth.

Clutching the bouquet of orchids and red roses , I noticed the deep burgundy/rose color combination brought out the colors I had chosen for my maid of honor and attendants to wear. (I had asked my sister, Antoinette, to stand as my maid of honor. I do not see her often, but we talk whenever possible). Choosing everyone's dress/tuxedo was quite easy. Thank goodness for catalogs. In the end, we had worked out the color scheme and it was simply a matter of time for the grand display.

As I walked out of the Bridal room, I heard the beautiful sounds from my harpist, Ann Roos. The sounds were romantic yet magical, the perfect combination of sounds I wanted to achieve in my wedding. I felt like I was in heaven, like I was in "A Whole New World". She added that very special touch I wanted. It was truly "Some Enchanted Evening".

All of a sudden, "La, I am scared." Antoinette said nervously.

"What do you have to be scared about?" I giggled, "I am the one getting married."

"I can't remember what I have to do. I can't play for you anymore."

I saw the insecurity in her pleading eyes, and it touched me. Reassuring her, I took her hand and told her to relax and calm down.

"You'll be fine, Antoinette. Don't worry."

We laughed, but underneath that laughter, was the fear that she would be laughed at. It was after all, her second major performance in front of a live audience; her first being her piano recital at the end of her freshman year in high school. Maybe this would allow her to realize how important she was, is. Our lives would be different from that moment on.

"Last chance to stop me." She teased, then looking back she asked in all seriousness, "You ready La?"

I took a deep breath and smiled. "Ready."

Looking down the aisle, I saw the people who meant the most to me. My family and close relatives were there. I could not believe I was finally going through with this.

As I began the slow walk down that path that would lead to my intended, I saw him...Edward stood there smiling at me, looking more handsome than I had ever seen him before. Standing next to him, holding a small pillow was his nephew, Harlan, looking like a small replica of his uncle. Behind Harlan was Edward's sister, and best "woman", Lynne, including my brothers, Ronald and Dominic. Anissa, was on the other side of them, holding her basket of rose petals, with Antoinette, Emily and Mary by her. I took my place beside Ed and heard a small whispered voice say, "You look beautiful." Love flooded through me. I wanted to kiss Ed, but smiled and nervously whispered the same.

Rev. Sayed started the ceremony but it all became a blur. I was lost in Ed's eyes in the way he was looking at me, and the feelings of love that we were sharing. Before I knew it, we were saying our vows and Ed leaned down, pulled the veil away from my face and kissed me deeply. It was as if I was waking from a dream, and I realized I was his wife. If I did not have a video tape of the entire ceremony, I would not have known that Antoinette played perfectly, despite missing her opening line. The half hour ceremony played down almost perfectly to the script I prepared for the attendants, even with no rehearsal.

Ed put his arm protectively around me and guided me back down the aisle. The feelings of love and happiness seemed overwhelming and I began to cry. With a scream of relief, happy, joyous tears streamed down my face and I almost dropped my bouquet I was carrying.

After all the excitement, we stopped in the foyer to greet our guests. As the faces swirled by, I found myself having a hard time concentrating on who was who and what was being said to me. My thoughts kept creeping back to Ed. I yearned to be alone with him...

The evening reception was held at our suite, a large room, but not large enough to accommodate nearly 50 guests comfortably. The table displaying the cake and champagne were due to arrive. We danced, we laughed, we finally ate, but we never seemed to have time to be alone. Several times during the evening I found Ed looking over at me and he would wink, making me blush. I knew what he was thinking, and he knew that I was thinking about it too…

 Amid the shower of well wishes, we made our appearance and graciously excused our guests out of our suite...

We never let go of each other that night. We eventually slept entwined in each others' arms. After the champagne brunch celebration the following day, Hawaii was our next destination. It was beautiful just as everyone says it is, but I think it was made even more special because fate had brought us there, just as it had brought Ed to my classroom several years ago.